Had an interesting trip home early Friday evening;
On a section of the A40, mostly wide with a cross hatched centre lane (dashed lines so people can and do overtake safley) there is a pedestrian refuge, creating a pinch point. As usual I positioned myself a bit further from the kerb than normal to stop anyone trying to squeeze past at this point. Saw a white van getting closer in the mirror then sit right behind be blasting the horn. On passing the refuge he slowly overtook, shouting abuse and "waving" at me for delaying his journey by 3 seconds. Naturally I shouted and "waved" back, promting him to swerve violently into the kerb. I braked to avoid being run off the road. He pulled off slowly, I followed a bit behind. He slowed down, perhaps hoping I'd attempt to pass, then veered into the kerb again. I pointed at his number plate and mouthed reading it, he sped off swerving madly from side to side and causing an oncoming car driver to panic and swerve away from him. I watched him turn right at the roundabout and assumed it was finished. I went straight on and up the B road only to see him coming up behind me again! I was ready to ride onto the verge but he overtook sensibly, albeit with a lot of noise. The road here is straight and you can literally see for a mile, apart from a hidden dip. He went into the dip but didn't come up the other side so I grabbed my camera 'phone ready to record what might happen. He was sitting with the door open, presumably as an invite to talk to him and his mate (both bigger than me!) and watched me go past. The door closed but I never saw him again.
As soon as I was out of sight I reported this to the police, mainly because the road's not too busy and he could easily get away with a hit and run with no witnesses.
Got a crime reference number and dropped in at the station on Saturday morning. Despite mentioning things like bicycle and admitting to provoking the attack by responding I was taken seriously, the officer agreed that his behavior was totally unacceptable. He said he was probably only trying to frighten me but that this sort of thing can easly go badly wrong. With no other witnesses I can't expect a prosecution but they have "put a marker" on his van so this is on record if anyone else complains or he's involved in an "accident" in the future and they've been to have a chat with him to ask him to moderate his behaviour.
Please don't all go telling me I should've calmly ignored him - I know that! I'm only really posting this to show that it is worth reporting incidents, they are taken seriously
White van
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gar
Re:White van
I was in the multi story in Brigthton once and somebody argued with me about a parking space. I picked an argument before he got out of his car.
He got out. He was 6'10" and about 22stone.
There was nobody else about but he had such a pretty face looking out of the car window I did not think I had anything to worry about!
I apologised and went on my way. All for a day in Brighton! Asked him please to take the space I was just going no please do!!
Cameras can be the work of the devil, even your mobile camera.
gar
g
He got out. He was 6'10" and about 22stone.
There was nobody else about but he had such a pretty face looking out of the car window I did not think I had anything to worry about!
I apologised and went on my way. All for a day in Brighton! Asked him please to take the space I was just going no please do!!
Cameras can be the work of the devil, even your mobile camera.
gar
g
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novice
Re:White van
Interesting story, you lived to tell the tale. Your road position was exactly as per the quiz mentioned in one of the other forum topics. I think pinch points are very dangerous for cyclists; I thought this when a taxi driver told me a story about an experience he had. Two cyclists were on the road ahead and coming up to a pinch point the one at the back pulled alongside the other cyclist, blocks the road. The taxi driver thought this was dreadful and in order to "avoid" the cyclists he swerved over to the other side of the road and went through the pinch-point on the wrong side, risking hitting on-coming traffic, fortunately there wasn't any. He maligned the cyclists, I sat there thinking he must have been going very, very, fast. You hear these stories and it makes you wonder why we bother cycling. The road planners have got a lot to answer for!!!
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Pedalling Pete
Re:White van
I recently attended a cyclists' liaison meeting with our County Council. I pointed out to their Highways' Engineer (a member of a local cycle racing club!!) the findings of the recent TRL621 report prepared by the Dept. for Transport on pinch points - "The effect on Road Narrowings on Cyclists".
A CTC member present confirmed a recent incident of intimidation by a motorist at a pinch point.
The Higways Engineer confirmed he would continue to roll out more such pinch points as and when he saw fit, regardless of the ongoing criticism by folk such as myself.
Clearly the jobsworth mentality rules among Highways' Engineers!
So long as the CTC continues to be supine and fails to campaign effectively in fighting this combination of dangerous engineering and dangerous driving, we will continue to be ignored by the decision makers.
A CTC member present confirmed a recent incident of intimidation by a motorist at a pinch point.
The Higways Engineer confirmed he would continue to roll out more such pinch points as and when he saw fit, regardless of the ongoing criticism by folk such as myself.
Clearly the jobsworth mentality rules among Highways' Engineers!
So long as the CTC continues to be supine and fails to campaign effectively in fighting this combination of dangerous engineering and dangerous driving, we will continue to be ignored by the decision makers.
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gar
Re:White van
It is such a strange story I read it over a couple of times to makr sure I had it right.
It's my theories of road madness (not motorway) coming to the fore again.
I must emphasise that just because somebody is using a machine/gadget it does not mean that he/she is not totally out of his mind. This does not exclude cyclists, though I can't think of an example.
The local hedgerow operative here calls himself
Mad Mike on his cab name plate. He IS, but he says that when he is cutting the hedgerows he is
NOT. Regrettably for local wildlife the converse is true. He does a great deal of damage.
Generally I keep well clear of such nutters even if it means going another way or waiting until the coast is clear.
Perhaps the driver in the case above thinks the same as Mad Mike; that he only wins his sanity when he gets into the cab; whereas the converse is true.
g
It's my theories of road madness (not motorway) coming to the fore again.
I must emphasise that just because somebody is using a machine/gadget it does not mean that he/she is not totally out of his mind. This does not exclude cyclists, though I can't think of an example.
The local hedgerow operative here calls himself
Mad Mike on his cab name plate. He IS, but he says that when he is cutting the hedgerows he is
NOT. Regrettably for local wildlife the converse is true. He does a great deal of damage.
Generally I keep well clear of such nutters even if it means going another way or waiting until the coast is clear.
Perhaps the driver in the case above thinks the same as Mad Mike; that he only wins his sanity when he gets into the cab; whereas the converse is true.
g